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Please Open Immediately - Open Letter



Dear List Administrator:

Please forward the following open letter from Michael Moore (creator of
the film "Roger&Me") to the members of your opt-in email list(s).

Thank You!



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November 2, 2000



Dear Governor Bush,


It's been awhile since we've talked. I believe your last words to me
were, "Go find real work!" You kidder, you! That very night, it was you
who found real work for yourself by executing your 117th human being in
Texas. How DO you do it?!

Actually, the "real work" I do now, my job, is due in large part to
your family. Few people know what you and I know... that it was your
cousin Kevin who shot much of "Roger & Me."  At the time, I didn't know
that your mother, Barbara Bush, and his mother were sisters. Kevin must
have missed the train the rest of you were on! He came to Flint to
return a favor to me for helping him on a film he was making about hate
groups. He is the person who taught me how to make a movie. Without his
generosity, "Roger & Me" might never had been made.

I remember the day your dad was inaugurated as President. I was editing
the film in a ratty old editing room in D.C. and decided to go down to
watch your dad be sworn in on the Capitol steps. How weird it was to
see my mentor/cinematographer sitting next to you up on the dais!
Months later, when the film was released, your dad, the President,
ordered a print of "Roger & Me" to be sent to Camp David for the family
to watch one weekend. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall as all
of you watched the havoc and despair your father and Mr. Reagan had
helped wreak upon my hometown. I've always wanted to know -- at the end
of the film, as the deputy sheriff was tossing the kids' presents and
Christmas tree out on the curb because they were $150 behind in their
rent -- were there any tears in the room? Did anyone feel responsible?
Or did you just think, "nice camerawork!"

And now you want to be President of the United States.

I'm sorry to tell you, but that can't happen.

The American people need to know a few things about you -- and they had
better consider them right now, before a tragic mistake is made.

You know what I am talking about.

Your possible victory on Tuesday is a threat to our national security.

That may seem a bit strong, but I don't make this charge lightly. It
has nothing to do with your positions on the issues (all of which I
disagree with) or your patriotism (I'm sure you love your country).

It has to do with you. I believe, with all due respect, that if you sit
in the Oval Office, this nation of ours, it's security, and in turn,
the security of the world, has the potential to be in great jeopardy.

Why?

There are three reasons.


1. It appears you cannot read and write on an adult level. I'm sad to
say it, but you may be a functional illiterate. How can we entrust our
nuclear secrets to you if you can't read them?


As I have pointed out before, all the signs of either dyslexia or
illiteracy are there -- and no one is asking you about it. First, you
lied about your "favorite book" as a child ("A Very Hungry Caterpillar"
you said). That book wasn't even published until a year after you
graduated from college!

Then there is the question of your college transcripts and if, in fact,
they have been doctored. How DID you get into Yale when the prospective
students we uncovered had higher SATs and grades? During this campaign
you have made up answers when asked to name the books you are currently
reading (when quizzed about the books' contents, you didn't know what
to say). Is it any wonder you have not had a press conference in over a
month and a half? Your handlers are scared to death of what might be
asked or what you may say.

One thing is clear to all -- you can't speak the English language in
sentences we can comprehend.  At first, the way you mangled words and
sentences was cute and funny. But after a while, it became worrisome.
Now, I'm just scared. If you are Commander-in-Chief, you have to be
able to communicate your orders. What if your subordinates don't
understand you?  What kind of chaos could that cause with our national
security? No wonder you want to increase the Pentagon budget. We'll
need all the firepower we can get after you accidentally order the
Russians to be "wiped out" (when you meant to say that the Russians are
just "whipped" these days).

Your aides have said that you don't (can't?) read the briefing papers
they give you and that you ask them to read them for you or to you.
Your mother was passionately committed to reading programs as First
Lady. I assume she knew first hand the difficulty of raising a child
with a learning disability.

I say none of this to knock you personally. Forty million adult
Americans cannot read above a 4th grade level and millions are
dyslexic. There is no shame in this. In fact, there is help. But for
you to have your finger on The Button when you may be disabled in this
way is too great a risk for the country to take. You need help -- not
the Oval Office.

Hey, I'm not one to talk -- just look at this letter and all its wacky
syntax! But I ain't runnin' for President. At the very least, the
voters deserve an answer to this question of your illiteracy by
Tuesday.

2. Are you an alcoholic? Again, there is no finger being pointed here
and no shame or disrespect intended. Alcoholism is a huge problem and
it affects millions of American citizens, people we all know and love.
Many are able to recover and live normal lives. I greatly admire anyone
who can deal with this addiction. You have told us that you are not
able to drink, and haven't touched a drop since you were 40.
Congratulations.

But it has just been revealed tonight on CNN that, in the past, you
were arrested for drunk driving (and that you tried to cover it up).
You have told us that you used to "drink too much" and that you were
"more in love with the liquor" than you were with your own family. That
is the definition of an alcoholic. This does not disqualify you from
being president, but it does require that you answer some questions.

Why won't you use the word "alcoholic?" That is, after all, the first
step to recovery. What support system have you set up to make sure you
don't fall off the wagon? Being president is perhaps the most stressful
job in the world. What have you done to insure you can handle the
pressure and the anxiety associated with being the Leader of the Free
World? How do we know you will not resort to the bottle when faced with
a serious panic? You have never had a job like this. For 20 years, from
what I can tell, you had no job at all. When you stopped "drifting,"
your dad set you up in the oil business with some ventures that failed
and then he helped you get a ball team which required you to sit in a
box seat and watch a lot of baseball games. Now you have served as
governor of Texas, a relatively ceremonial job in that state. How will
you deal with a massive world crisis? Do you have a sponsor you can
call? Is there a meeting you can attend? I know this is very personal,
but the voters have a right to know.

3. Please, tell us the "felony" you committed and anything else of a
similar nature that you have been hiding. When you were asked last year
about your alleged cocaine use, you replied that you have committed "no
felonies in the last 25 years." That implies that you DID commit a
felony before that. What was the felony?

The reason I am asking this is not to seek retribution for what you
did. I am concerned that if there is some deep, dark secret you are
afraid of, it means you are, in effect, providing ammunition for
whoever discovers this secret, be it a foreign enemy (that Bin-Laden
guy) or a domestic enemy (ExxonMobil). If they discover your secret
felony, they will have something over you -- and will be in a position
to blackmail you. That makes you a national security threat.

Trust me, someone will find out what you are hiding, and when they do,
all of us will be at risk. You have made yourself a national security
threat and you have a duty to disclose whatever this felony was that
you committed. To reveal it will nullify its potential use as a weapon
against you or this country should you be elected.

There are enough scary reasons why you should never be President. You
will oversee further destruction of our environment. You will push to
have more people executed. You will make sure your rich buddies make a
killing off the hard work and suffering of those less fortunate than
you. Any of these reasons is enough to stop you on Tuesday.

But, no matter where any of us stand on the political spectrum, liberal
or conservative, Democrat, Republican or Green, all of us have a right
to know the answers to these three critical questions.


Yours,


Michael Moore

mmflint@aol.com

www.michaelmoore.com

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